10 Workstations That Not Only Look Good, But Will Boost Your Productivity

Have you ever heard the phrase “a workman is only as good as his tools”? No matter how good you are, if you aren’t working with the right things, in the right space, and in the right mindset, your productivity will be affected. It is natural. A study conducted Genstler shows a real and measurable impact between the physical space in which you study, and your overall productivity.[1] So a good workstation is absolutely vital.

You shouldn’t think of your desk as merely a desk, as a piece of furniture. Instead, it is important to make your desk your own, something distinctly yours. Working at a place you are comfortable with, a place you regard as yours will affect your productivity and the quality of your work there.

What you need is a workstation that is well built, comfortable, and well designed. With that in mind, here is a list of ten of the best for your consideration.

1. The Grovemade Desk Shelf

The Grovemade Desk Shelf is fabulously spacious and well designed. The raised shelf for monitors (as the photo shows it can fit two gives it a great ergonomic quality. But my favorite aspect is the small spaces underneath the shelf, allowing for smart and subtle storage.

One thing that needs consideration is that it needs to be placed on a table to be of use. However, with one, it has an immediate effect, transforming and improving your desk space. The storage spaces are great for de-cluttering a messy desk, and the raised area and for monitors places them at a more comfortable height for looking at for long periods of time.

2. Modulos Adjustable Desk

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The Modulos Adjustable Desk is incredibly inventive, bordering on revolutionary. With the Modulos, you can modify the desk entirely to suit your wants and needs.

Normally, with desks and workstations, the main part is based on a single piece of wood that is impossible to adjust. The Modulos revolutionizes this idea by having the desk formed out of a number of adjustable modules. Because of this, you can change the core shape of it at will.

If one day you want the desk to fit in a corner, and another day you want it to be flat against the wall, this is no problem with the Modulos, but with almost any other desk design in history, this simple change would be impossible. It is for this reason the Modulos stands out, it presents true customization.

3. Unicoo-height adjustable Laptop Cart

The Unicoo is built for multi-functionality, you can adjust its height to work as a standing workstation, a desk, a bedside table and more.
In addition, the Unicoo is wheeled so you can move it around with ease to be placed where its most needed.

4. The Foundry Portable Work Desk

The Foundry desk is height adjustable, so you will be able to suit it around your needs. What makes the Foundry desk special is that it is built and designed around being portable. It is designed to be assembled and disassembled quickly and easily, without tools. As such, if you are likely to be moving around often and want to take your work station with you, it is ideal.

5. OneSpace 50-JN110505 Ultramodern Glass L-Shape Desk

OneSpace desk has an extremely sleek and modern design. Its L shape makes it ideal for fitting in the corner. What it lacks in potential for customization, it gains in spaciousness. It is quite a large desk and not an inch of it is wasted, and thanks to its smart CPU stand for desk top computers, there is even more space for you to work on.

It is built around an incredibly strong steel frame which can withstand significant weight and pressure. The glass itself is tempered safety glass and such it is incredibly strong. The desk’s modern appearance means no loss to structural integrity or strength.

6. Soges Office Desk Workstation

The Stoges workstation is a fantastic all rounder. It has a large surface providing you plenty of space to work on, and this can be improved with a raised layer at the back of the desk giving you the opportunity to add extra items, for maximum space efficiency.

It’s built from high quality, scratch resistant wood, which provides you a strong and clean surface to work on. The fittings are equally high quality, so you will have no problems with strength or stability, ensuring your desk will stay in good condition for a long time.

7. Soges L-Shaped Computer Desk

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This Stoges L-Shaped computer desk, is great for corner placement. Its large surface area gives you plenty of space to work, with more than enough space for one or more computers as well as space for notebooks. Like the above Stoges desk, it is made from high quality materials, meaning it will last you a long time.

Beneath the desk there is a platform for your computer CPU, this is a great feature, as it not only frees up more space for you to work, but allows air to flow more freely around your CPU which might help prevent overheating.

8. Stoges Home Office Desk

This desk has impressive space efficiency, the main area is large, with more than enough space for your computer or notebooks. This is improved upon thanks to the numerous raised shelving areas at the back with enough room to store several books, folders, or any other item you may need. It is made out of the best materials and fitting ensuring it will last as long as you need it.

9. The Varidesk Cube

The Varidesk is designed to be placed on a desk or table to be of use. However doing so, will utterly revolutionize your workstation. It has an inventive two tier system that allows space for one or more monitors at the top, and your keyboard, mouse or anything else on the lower tier. The raised platform encourages ergonomic and comfortable viewing of your monitors. This is entirely height adjustable, allowing you to have it at a height most comfortable for you.

This desk comes fully assembled right out of the box. Meaning all you need to do is place it on your desk and enjoy.

10. Customize-It Project Trestle Desk

This desk has an inventive and spacious design. It has a large surface area which ordinarily would provide you great space for you to work on. This is improved further by the shelves on the trestle desk’s stands.

What makes this desk unique Is that each section of the top desk are on hinges and can open up allowing for massively increased storage pace. With it, you will be able to neatly and smartly hide and store a multitude of items. Some of these sections have cork board on one side allowing you to pin and display notes or any other important pieces of paper that you may need. There is even a built in slot to comfortably hold your tablet computer.

All these features are wonderfully subtle and are almost unnoticeable behind its simple and nicely rustic facade.

How Continuous Improvement Can Enhance Your Personal Life

Kaizen is the Japanese philosophy and practice of continuous improvement. This concept of continuous improvement was first conceived in the USA during WW2.

To maintain the production levels and meet demand, the industry had to come up with a system that would allow for incremental progress in production rather than no progress at all – which was very much the reality the industry was facing.

This concept of consistent incremental improvement proved to be a huge success and saved the US manufacturing industry from a rapid decline.

After WW2, as part of the rebuild programme for Japan, the Japanese were invited to visit manufacturing plants through out the USA. The Japanese took this successful concept of continuous improvement and adapted into Kaizen.

This philosophy formed the base from which the Japanese have built a manufacturing industry that dominates the world today.

In this article, I’ll look into what continuous improvement is and how you can make use of this concept to enhance your life.

What does Kaizen (continuous improvement) have to do with you?

So what does Kaizen have to do with us? How can it help us enhance our personal lives?

“Persistence, perseverance, and continuous improvement are the ingredients for forming a successful person.” — Debasish Mridha

While Kaizen was originally developed to help businesses improve and thrive, it’s just as applicable to our personal lives.

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The Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement I believe is a failure proof systemthat enables us to achieve and sustain our personal goals and dreams in life.

The concept of continuous improvement offers us a way where we can live our lives to the fullest by continuously learning, growing and thriving.

We live in a world of never ending disruption and change. By adopting the philosophy of Kaizen, we become more adaptable, flexible and resilient to dealing with the constant demands and disruptions we face in our lives.

What continuous improvement is exactly

The philosophy of Kaizen is based on the concept that instead of making big changes at once, the continuous improvement approach focuses on making small improvement over time.

Kaizen is often referred to as the “strategy for 1% gains”. It is these 1% gains that athletes focus on to improve their performance. The 1% gains are incremental and if you keep building on the 1% gains the rewards are phenomenal.

Continuous improvement is perpetual and so to maintain gains and improvement, you need to work on them continuously.

Your personal improvement journey is never finished! What this means is, if you are truly committed to philosophy of continuous improvement, you are less likely to quit because you are always in search of the next goal.

How continuous improvement empowers you

How many New Year resolutions have you made and never achieved over the years?

Unless you are one of the small minority who are goal orientated high achievers, maintaining motivation and the commitment to achieving your goals is hard work and dare I say it – with not much success – one big FAILURE after another.

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Hence, these are the reasons why New Years’ resolutions are never achieved.

Continuous improvement can help you to achieve any goals you set. If you commit to the practice of continuous improvement, your motivation to achieve your goals and aspirations in life will never die.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” — Benjamin Franklin

You will never have to struggle with the dilemma of giving up or giving in because it all became too hard.

Your achievements and success in life will be as a result of you taking continuous incremental steps toward your goals.

Continuous improvement is not about reaching the big goals in life but about taking small steps and improving and refining along the way.

How to commit to continuous improvement

If you truly desire a successful life where you are thriving, the first thing you must do is embrace and accept that your journey of self improvement and growth will never end. It is a lifelong journey of learning.

Once you have accepted that your journey to improving your life is life long, you then follow these steps:

1. Set your goals based on the philosophy of 1% incremental achievements

Remember that setting the goal is the easy bit. Keeping motivated, focused and on track to achieving any goal is the hardest part.

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The concept of continuous improvement provides you with a system or a process that if you commit to following will enable you to confidently achieve any goal you set- you are guaranteed to win.

“Instead of trying to make radical changes in a short amount of time, just make small improvements every day that will gradually lead to the change you want. Each day, just focus on getting 1% better in whatever it is you’re trying to improve. That’s it. Just 1%.” — Brett and Kate McKay of The Art of Manliness

It might not seem like much but continuous 1% improvement/achievements every day will gradually add up to 100% and the goal is achieved!

In their book The Art Of Manliness, Brett and Kate McKay talk about how the journey of self improvement and personal growth is a lot like a rollercoaster ride – scary, exciting and with lots of ups and downs.

They believe that by following the concept of Kaizen (the 1% improvement) every day enables you to get off the roller coaster ride of feeling like a failure and being angry with yourself because you keep giving up.

2. Break down the system into small actions

Continuous improvement is a journey of personal growth where you are making long-term steady progress. It is not about random bursts of improvement with fits and starts of activity. This approach to self-improvement will not give you the sustainable long-term changes you seek to improve your life or achieve your goals.

For example, if you have huge debt and you want to pay it back but it is all too much, so you hide away from taking any action. To put the concept of continuous improvement into action, the first thing you need to do is not focus on how much you owe, instead focus on creating a system or process that enables you to pay back an incremental amount each week.

Once you have created the system, you must break down the system into small actions or behaviours with the least resistance and effort. Commit to these actions on a daily basis until your original system is habit.

Commit to paying back a realistic amount each week and then increase the amount you pay back by 1% plus every week after that. Keep going until the debt is paid off.

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3. Keep track of your 1% success

The other important factor about incremental achievement is that you must measure and keep track of your 1% successes.

Evaluating and measuring your improvements are important for your own motivation and commitment to the journey. If you are not measuring your progress, your subconscious brain will kick in and sabotage your progress by convincing you that it is all too hard and you are not making any progress at all.

Your subconsious brain only believes what you tell it. Unfortunately you have told your brain a lot of untruthful things over a long period of time about how you are a failure, not motivated and never really achieved anything in life. Your subconscious brain as a result believes all these “facts” that you have told it to be true.

Measuring and evaluating your 1% successes is key to you retraining your subconscious to believe that Yes – you can achieve your goals and succeed in life!

Focus on the progress, always

Continuous Improvement does not focus on making huge gains or big improvements all at once. Instead it focuses on long-term steady progress.

When you follow the philosophy of Continuous Improvement, you won’t radically change your life but over time with consistent and constant improvement and change, you will find that you are living your life to the fullest – empowered, resilient and thriving.

Why would you not want to embrace this philosophy of incremental improvement and growth into your personal life?

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will be a stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” – Sir Winston Churchill